According to Lees, Microsoft views the tablet as a PC and thus a Windows Phone 7 OS would not be the next rational move in the tablet market. A phone OS for tablets would therefore be “in conflict” with attempting to offer a PC-level experience for tablets.

As such, Windows 8 may be the only tablet-native OS coming from Microsoft in the near future. Lees expects the operating system to support system on chips (SoCs) to better expand its range of compatible processors.

Additionally, Lees sees a future where PCs, tablets and phones will eventually merge into a “unified ecosystem.” AppleInsider therefore suspects that the Windows Phone 7 OS will eventually be replaced completely by the more flexible Windows 8.

The Windows Phone 7 operating system will likely be restricted to smartphones for now, meaning Microsoft may not be announcing anything huge for the tablet market until at least the release of Windows 8. So far, Microsoft’s current presence in tablets is largely limited to Windows 7, which is generally not optimized for multi-touch use or gesture-based commands.